By Mitchell Clarke
Premier Dan Andrews said it was time to ‘officially’ get back on the beers – and that’s exactly what people across the Cardinia Shire have done.
The Bottom Pub in Bunyip reopened on Friday 30 October for the first time in seven months, and thirsty locals wasted no time returning to their favourite watering hole.
Pub director Rebecca Robison said it was great for the venue to be able to finally welcome back their loyal locals.
“It’s been quite difficult, we had to do what we had to do to survive, which is why we kept doing takeaway across seven days,” she said.
“The main thing for us was to keep our staff in jobs.”
And that’s exactly what they did. All staff have been able to maintain their normal hours and two extra jobseekers were even given an ongoing role.
The new staff were needed from the get-go, as a busy opening weekend kept crew on the go.
“It was massive, probably one of the busiest weekends we’ve had,” Ms Robison explained.
“We opened at 5pm on the Friday and had two seatings; from 5.15 to 7.15pm and 7.30 to 9.30pm.
“Both sessions were booked out, so we had 140 people over the two seatings as well as over 100 meals in takeaway on both nights.”
Current restrictions allow the pub to seat just 20 people indoors and 50 outdoors, but with a total capacity of about 180 per seating, the pub is hopeful restrictions will continue to ease.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get to 40 people indoors and 70 outdoors in the next announcement,” Ms Robison added.
“We can’t wait until restrictions ease and we can start to open up to more people, but we’re just really happy about being open again.
“People love it, they’ve just wanted the bar open to enjoy a tap beer again. Our guests wanted to party all night but we can’t do that just yet.
“Everyone wants live music back, hopefully that’s to come, but for now, I think we’ll just stick to the jukebox,” she laughed.
Bottom Pub Bunyip remains open seven days, however bookings are essential. To book, call 5629 5202.
